In those infamous words of Westley (when he was still so innovatively disguised as the Man in Black with that incredibly mysterious, veiling eye mask), from the classic film The Princess Bride, “Life is pain. Anyone who says differently is selling something.” While the movie context might be contrast just a skosh to how we live in our fantasy football worlds, the similarities are too real to overlook, my friends. The pain of sinking to the bottom of your fantasy leagues rankings, after only four weeks? Undeniable. The disappointment of losing in your playoffs? Very legitimate. Receiving the brunt of your leaguemates’ jokes about your terrible record or being accused of lacking fantasy football knowledge? Wow. Utter and absolute misery. How did you get here?

Remember when you planned and schemed and connived back in the summer, with the very reachable goal of compiling the most dominant fantasy football team of the modern era? Yeah? Well, you likely also realistically acknowledged that, “Sure, there will be injuries to my studs.” But perhaps you didn’t take into account that any of YOUR players could conceivably disappoint or let you down. Was the work not put in, was there a lack of commitment, or enough effort toward excellence, for your fantasy team? Let’s take a look at ten of the most disappointing fantasy players of this 2013 season, through 15 weeks.

Note: that I’ve intentionally avoided players who left you completely out in the dark, and yet whose frustrating seasons were aided, in large part, due to long-term injury.

10. Stevan Ridley, Running Back, New England Patriots

A bit of a sexy pick to do big things coming out of training camp this year, Ridley was seemingly the clear-cut—at least from appearances outside the New England headquarters—leader in the clubhouse to have a stranglehold on the New England running back competition.

Now, I readily admit that attempting to figure out what goes on in Mr. Belichick’s football brain is akin to deciphering how the quarterback passer rating is actually calculated.

Fantasy ballers picked Ridley in the top 25 of their drafts, and among the top 15 running backs this year. Despite Shane Vereen going down to a multi-week injury in week one, Ridley was unable to grip the reigns tightly.

And then fumbling in three straight games in November pretty much sealed the deal for most fantasy owners I know, who declared—and I’ll quote them eloquently here—“I’m dropping his ass.”

Ridley has averaged right at eight points per game, in games he’s played, but that’s including a four game stretch where he averaged nearly 17 points per game. Inconsistent? Unpredictable? Irritating? I’ve read their tweets; those same owners echo in unison a resounding, “Hell, yeah!”

9. Dwayne Bowe, Wide Receiver, Kansas City Chiefs

Adding Bowe to this list is a bit of a stretch, personally, for me. I am not, was not, and likely will not be a Bowe guy. Perhaps in part because of the overt overusage of his name in far too many fantasy football team names, Somewhere Over the Dwayne Bowe. Or, you know as a fantasy owner … there are just some players and even teams for which you just seem to take a hands-off approach.

Bowe is one of those guys for me. Yet, I seem to be in the minority … at least in drafts. Bowe was a top 15 wide receiver pick, and is two years removed from back-to-back 1,000 yard receiving seasons. And in 2010, he scored 15 touchdowns!

This year’s letdown might be as much out of his control, as any player on this list. The Chiefs seem beyond intent in getting Jamaal Charles going each game; Alex Smith, though putting up more than consistent fantasy numbers, still has issues throwing deep; the Chiefs’ are seemingly built for strong defense and ball-control offense. All these add up to just over 50 catches and 600 yards, good for a spot outside the top 40 wide receivers in fantasy. Ugh. So, about that rainbow; will we find gold again? Maybe next year. It’s somewhere.

8. Jared Cook, Tight End, St. Louis Rams

Before the season began, Cook was touted by many experts as the greatest football player on the planet. OK, not quite. But he was expected to have a monster year by many prognosticators. In fact, Peter King said in his MMQ column, “I have not seen a better offensive weapon in all the practices I’ve seen on this training camp tour than I saw in the athletic and imposing Cook …” Now I’m not singling out King, as many others, myself included, expected great things from Cook this year, as well.

He was drafted as the No. 10 tight end in drafts. His athleticism is undeniable. His wingspan is similar to a long, NBA power forward. Many thought he’d double his 2012 output of 44 catches and four touchdowns through 15 weeks of the 2013 Titans campaign. Well, kids, guess how many catches and touchdowns Cook has with the Rams this year? If you said ditto, then you win the microwave oven. Exactly 44 and four. I’ll give him marks for consistency. But I think we’d all like improvement instead. Just a hunch.

7. Marques Colston, Wide Receiver, New Orleans Saints

If this list had been made after week nine, Colston may have been No. 1 on this list. Through those first nine weeks, the pride of the Hofstra ... um … Pride—not kidding, that’s their mascot—had totaled a whopping 37 total standard fantasy points. Or, basically a single off-game for Josh Gordon.

olston has come to life a bit the past six weeks, climbing all the way up into the top 30 for wide receivers, somewhat more respectable for the No. 13 drafted wide receiver.

It’s just that he may have killed some fantasy seasons early on, as he disappeared for weeks at a time.

If you survived this far with Hofstra’s best-know NFL player, you’re hoping he’ll roar to life in your championship. Yes, that was lame, but this material doesn’t make itself up, you know. 

6. Houston Texans, Defense/Special Teams

OK, time for a complete curveball here. I know kickers and defense/special teams don’t get much love on these sorts of lists, and for good reason. But let’s talk about it. How many leagues were you in where someone drafted the Texans at No. 8, or in the 10th round? In a couple of my leagues, they were the second DST picked. Their average draft spot was at No. 3 for DST’s.

Going into the season, most had the Texans, Niners and Seahawks defenses ranked all fairly evenly for the top three slots. And, where are the Texans now? No. 25. There are only seven (!) DST with less points scored then the Texans. They’ve tallied 100 points less than the top DST, the Chiefs. You may be yawning at this point. But think about that. They are coming in 22 slots below where they were drafted—and we’ve only 32 total to pick from in this sample size. So, as much as anything, this short sidebar is but a public service reminder to NOT DRAFT A DEFENSE before the final rounds. Repeat after me: “Friends don’t let friends draft kickers or defenses until the final rounds.”

5. Eli Manning, Quarterback, New York Giants

I feel inclined to include Peyton’s little brother here. Although expectations weren’t terribly high coming into the season—he was the No. 13 quarterback drafted, his mental and physical errors have been terribly high this season.

Eli is not currently in the top 20 of quarterbacks this year, and his play has, on every level … how shall I put this nicely … sucked.

Through 15 weeks, he has 25 interceptions. Now I know all interceptions are not solely on the shoulders of the quarterback every time.

But, really? 25? That’s like 12 and a half seasons of interceptions for Nick Foles. Now I need to say I have, at times, driven the Eli bandwagon.

But I wonder if it wasn’t a bit of pity cheering? I didn’t want him to live in Pey-Pey’s shadow his entire life. I hate to say it, but if not for his two Super Bowl rings, I honestly think his phone answering system might just revert back to the old days: … “Hello, you’ve NOT reached Peyton’s voice mail. This is Eli. I play a little QB also.  If you are one of Peyton’s sponsors, press 1.  For Peyton’s acting jobs, press 2 … ”

4. Tom Brady, Quarterback, New England Patriots

Since I just overviewed Eli’s struggles, then it’s time to also include his nemesis for those two Super Bowl wins, Brady. This past offseason in Foxborough left the cupboards as bare as we’ve seen since the last Brady championship run, with his three top receiver targets gone for varying reasons. So, one could assume expectations were low for Tom Terrific. Au contraire. The Patriot way doesn’t allow for rebuilding, especially with an aging Brady, who turned 36 this past summer. So there he was, coming in at No. 4 in the average draft position, only behind Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Peyton Manning. The saga of when Rob Gronkowski would return, Shane Vereen’s injury, and some very un-Belichick struggles with the receivers have left Brady merely human. He sits outside the top 10 of quarterbacks, behind the likes of Alex Smith and Andy Dalton, and has had three clunkers of less than 10 fantasy points. The bar has been set, Mr. Brady. The championships, the trophy-wife, the aw-shucks presser comments, the goofy throwback Patriots toque. The bar is set high.

3. C.J. Spiller, Running Back, Buffalo Bills

As we inch closer to the ‘top’ of this esteemed list, it seems the biggest fantasy letdowns fall in the running back category. Our next contest, C.J. Spiller graced the top five list of all players drafted this fantasy year. He had averaged a mind-boggling six yards per carry and over 10 yards per catch in 2013. He can conceivably rip off a 60 yard run or pitch-n-catch on any given play. Heck, his coach rather famously hinted that Spiller would get the rock until he threw up.  So, most fantasy folk ranked and drafted him high. And here he sits at No. 30 of running backs through 15 weeks, averaging 7.5 points per game. Why? Apparently, Fred Jackson has fountain-of-youth liquids intravenously injected weekly, thusly sniping touchdowns, yards and catches. Apparently, NFL defenses are pretty good at figuring out how to shrink lofty per touch averages. And, apparently Spiller isn’t a big fan of throwing up.

2. Ray Rice, Running Back, Baltimore Ravens

“Inconceivable!” Yet another quote from The Princess Bride, which pretty much sums up how Rice fans have felt this year.

It is, indeed, almost unthinkable for this Ray Rice, the one who’s averaged 1,250 yard rushing and nearly 10 touchdowns per year over the past four years, to likely not finish in the top 25 of running back scoring (standard leagues) this year.

He’s on pace to rush for less than 700 yards and score under five times. Sure, there was the minimal pre-season angst that Bernard Pierce might steal some touches, or that the Ravens would want Joe Flacco to earn some of that inflated, MLB-style contract.

But no one saw this drastic a downswing coming. So for my friends who named their fantasy teams Rice Rice Baby in hopes that the new Ray Ray would carry them to victory … perhaps it’s not so outlandish to think Ray Rice’s best days are behind him—just like Vanilla Ice himself. Unless, of course, you want to call Vanilla Ice and Amish reality television a success? “Inconceivable!”  

1. Trent Richardson, Running Back, Indianapolis Colts

You might have heard about this one. Headline: Browns Shockingly Trade Away Third Overall Pick to Colts, Giving Up On Season. It’s true, Cleveland fans, Browns brass threw in the towel, giving up uber-talent and face of the franchise, Trent Richardson. And what do they know, anyhow? Well, apparently something the rest of the free (and fake football) world didn’t. Richardson apparently stinks.

At least this year. In the Colts offense. For a guy whose average draft position was eighth among running backs and ninth overall, he’s not cracked the top 30 of running backs scoring in standard leagues, with less than 500 yards rushing and only two touchdowns. Week 15 was his highest rushing total of the year … at 64 yards! Assuming you went the traditional ‘running back first’ draft philosophy, your entire team was essentially doomed from the start.

While the other yahoos in your leagues were picking … oh, LeSean McCoy or Calvin Johnson, you had to wait until the second round to get a legitimate starter for your team. Perhaps headlines should have read, “Fantasy Football Owners Draft Richardson, Giving Up On Season”. But hey, there’s always next year. And ironically, he’ll likely be a buy-low candidate from all the burning done to this year’s ownership base.

So there you have it. Ten of the biggest letdowns to cause you pain. I’ve wondered, as I researched and penned this story, if we shouldn’t alter young Westley’s statement to read more like “Fantasy football is pain.” Some of us certainly can attest to this more than others. If you’ve survived the pain and disappointment to make it to your fantasy championship, congrats and I hope no one on your current roster disappoints. And if you’re already out of your fantasy playoffs, I have a great movie recommendation for you.  Here’s a hint: “Hello! My name is Inigo Montoya! You killed my father! Prepare to die!”